Source: http://xlcatlin.com, November 23, 2015 Legionella bacteria are one of the top three causes of non-epidemic, community-acquired pneumonia, and are cited as the indoor building contaminant bacteria most likely to result in mortality. Legionella bacteria are found naturally in the environment, usually in warm water. People breathe mists or water vapor that is contaminated with […]

Source: http://www.riskandinsurance.com, December 14, 2015 By: Steve Yahn Legionella remains a costly and deadly foe in real estate, hospitality and other sectors of the economy. Periodic large outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, like the one that occurred in New York City this summer, grab a lot of headlines, but in fact many lesser-known cases of the […]

Source: http://www.constructionrisk.com, January 2011 By: J. Kent Holland A $50,000 Limitation of Liability clause in a contract was enforced by the Georgia Court of Appeals in a case where a developer sued an architect for breach of contract and negligence when a retaining wall designed by the architect failed.   The architect’s motion for partial summary […]

Source: http://www.jdsupra.com, December 15, 2015 By: Traub Lieberman Straus & Shrewsberry LLP In its recent decision in John Sexton Sand & Gravel Corp. v. Nat’l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh, PA, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166699 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 11, 2015), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois had occasion […]

Source: http://www.constructionrisk.com, February 2011 By: J. Kent Holland, Jr. A Limitation of Liability clause (LoL) in a contract was upheld by a court notwithstanding allegations that the project owner had acted in bad faith in its treatment of the contractor.  It was held to apply, however, only to the damages that would be awarded under […]

Source: http://www.nwitimes.com, December 14, 2015 By: Keith Benman Gary/Chicago International Airport has entered into a “milestone” agreement with state regulators to contain decades-old contamination and keep it from migrating into the Grand Calumet River. As part of the agreement, the airport has agreed to extend a concrete culvert that loops around the northwest end of […]

Source: vindicator (Youngstown, OH), December 12, 2015 Posted on: http://www.advisen.com The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency had a public meeting this week in the village regarding complaints of a rotten-eggs smell emanating from the Lafarge Lordstown Construction Recovery Landfill on Palmyra Road. Dina Pierce, Ohio EPA spokeswoman, said her agency, the Trumbull County Board of Health, […]

Source: http://www.constructionrisk.com, July 2011 By: J. Kent Holland Where the developer of an apartment complex brought suit against a professional engineering firm, seeking damages allegedly resulting from the negligent design of the storm water drainage system for the complex, the court granted a partial summary judgment based on a limitation of liability (LoL) clause in […]

Source: http://jacksonville.com, December 12, 2015 By: Terry Dickson BRUNSWICK | The EPA and Hercules Inc. have agreed on a plan for another round of cleanup of toxaphene that is contaminating the creeks and marshes adjacent to what is now the Pinova chemical plant. Although regulators and the company are in agreement, the neighbors don’t like […]

Source: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com, December 11, 2015 By: Joshua Emerson Smith San Diego firm sues on behalf of cities facing expensive cleanups to remove PCB chemicals In a move that might give corporate America chills, a San Diego-led legal team is testing a strategy aimed at expanding companies’ liability for cleaning up pollutants — even if those […]

Source: http://www.constructionrisk.com, October 2013 An architect’s contract containing a limitation of liability clause (LoL) was enforced to grant a partial summary judgment limiting the architect’s liability to $70,000 in the face of a $4.2 million claim for damages due to structural problems that required a nearly completed hotel to have to be demolished. The U.S. […]

Source: http://www.cleveland.com, December 9, 2015 By: John Harper COPLEY TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A stubby beige brick building sits in the middle of a roughly-paved parking lot near the corner of Copley and Jacoby roads, unremarkable as mid-century strip malls tend to be. But this innocuous looking place is to blame for one of the most serious environmental disasters in Summit County, […]